Easter Day at Badock's Wood

 Oh thank goodness, the light is back and with it Spring and a thousand shades of green. Plus this ladybird, my second of the season. 

the round barrow

Also, not my first bluebell of 2024, as there's one small clump out at Brabzon that survived the destruction of the hedgerow along the edge of the skylarks' field, but behind it is my first flowering cow parsley ... 

... and first wood anemones.

Looking down into the River Trym's little gorge from the upper part of the wood, it was clear some felling had been going on at the junction of paths, so I resolved to have a closer look later.

King Alfred's cakes

In addition to feathers, when it's feather season, and sea glass and fossils when I'm on the beach, I often pick up bits of pottery while I'm out walking. Until fairly recently, I thought they were there because mothers of the pre-Bakelite era took china plates with them when they were picnicking in the fields with their children and sometimes they got smashed. But in fact, shards of pottery, along with broken tiles and stones, used to be spread in gateways and lanes as hard standing, to stop waggons and cattle and small children from sinking, and the name for this material is 'hoggin'.

Today I found a small piece of blue and white hoggin right by the badgers sett, along with some prints, and just a few steps further along the path, another bit that looks like it could well be Willow pattern and reminds me of my grandmother, which was pleasing on a day celebrated for its story of resurrection.

Here's where the trees were felled. It's in an area of the wood where there are a lot of beeches. Can't find anything online about why they've been cut down and removed, when fallen trees are generally left to lie and provide habitat, but as the wood is part of the Forest of Avon, I'm pretty confident  it was done for a good reason.

Several times I thought I'd spotted my first wild garlic of the season, only for it to be a big splat of bird poo on garlic leaves, but finally, in the shelter of the gorge, I came across a few flowers.

celandines, bluebells and wood anemones

blackthorn by the Trym

Boggis the beech root, who acquired his name at least 15 years ago, courtesy my friend Jan Lane, seems also to have acquired some orange alga or lichen since I last saw him.  Or maybe he's been at the fake tan and is thinking of running for US President. 

Although it's been a few months since we were last in Badock's wood, Cwtch clearly remembered the interminable paddling sessions of last year, when I tried to persuade her that it's fun to get your paws wet, because she made straight for the riverbank with an expectant look on her face. Mission accomplished, perhaps ... except she'll only go in if I'm in there too ... 

... and definitely not if we're anywhere near any of the weirs. 

Then it was back to the car along the top of the gorge. A lovely walk in a lovely little wood on the cusp of spring.